⛳ The 397-Yard Problem

Good morning. Aaron Rai was not the obvious headline when the week started.

His best finish at a major was 19th. Then he closed with a 65, turning Aronimink into the best Sunday of his career.

A major sure can change a résumé fast.

-Harry Carlisle

Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship at Aronimink after closing with a 65, turning Sunday into the best round of his major career. Before this week, his best major finish was 19th

Kurt Kitayama went historic from nowhere: Kurt Kitayama shot a bogey-free 63 in the final round, tying the record for the lowest final round in a major and jumping 57 spots up the leaderboard. He started the day outside the top 60 and still became one of Sunday’s biggest stories.

Rory McIlroy gave Aronimink one of the loudest shots of the week on Saturday when he drove the green at the 397-yard par-4 sixth during a third-round 66. The ball found the putting surface, the crowd exploded, and for a few seconds the hole stopped looking like a par 4.

That shot is exactly why the golf ball rollback debate keeps coming back.

The issue isn’t that long drives are bad. Long drives are awesome. The issue is that the longest players now hit it so far that classic championship courses are running out of room.

To keep those courses challenging, organizers often have to add new tees, stretch holes, narrow fairways, grow thicker rough, or redesign parts of the course. And at some point, the question becomes: do we keep changing the courses, or do we slightly limit how far the ball can go?

That’s the basic rollback idea.

It wouldn’t suddenly make pros short hitters. It would just take a little distance off the very longest shots, so the best courses don’t have to keep getting longer forever.

On Friday at the PGA Championship, Maverick McNealy played one of those shots that looks wrong until you realize exactly why a Tour player would do it.

Near the 16th green, McNealy used the toe of his putter instead of the full face. The idea is touch. A normal putt might come out too hot, and a chip could snag, jump, or get bladed from an awkward collar lie.

The toe creates a smaller, softer strike, almost like tapping the ball out instead of rolling it normally.

It’s part of the same family as those weird little short-game escape shots: using the leading edge of a wedge, the belly of a wedge, or the toe of the putter when the lie is too awkward for a standard stroke.

Rory McIlroy did a tiny thing on the first tee Sunday that most people probably missed: he stamped the ground behind his tee with his foot.

Pros do this for a simple reason. They’re trying to create a slightly cleaner, flatter place for the club to move through after impact, especially if the teeing ground is chewed up, uneven, or sitting a little high behind the ball.

Lottie Woad won the Kroger Queen City Championship at Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati, finishing at 12 under for her second LPGA Tour title. She entered Sunday with a three-shot lead, closed with a 1-under 69 in gusty conditions, and held off Haeran Ryu by two.

Why it matters: Woad is only 22, so this feels like it could be the beginning of a real LPGA rise.

The Asian Tour moves next to the Kolon Korea Open at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, with Bubba Watson and Abraham Ancer listed as adding LIV star power to the field.

With LIV’s long-term future still uncertain, the Asian Tour is a good place to give players competitive reps, and another route into important events.

Shiho Kuwaki won the JLPGA’s Sky RKB Ladies Classic at Fukuoka Raizan Golf Club, finishing at 15 under after rounds of 68-66-67. The win is her fourth JLPGA title. 

PGA TOUR Americas is in Lima, Peru, for the Diners Club Peru Open at Los Inkas Golf Club.

After a major week at Aronimink, the PGA Tour shifts to TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas for THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson.

The course usually offers a lot more birdies. Scottie Scheffler won here last year at 31 under, and he’s listed again in a field that also includes Aaron Rai, Jordan Spieth and Si Woo Kim.

Also worth noting:

This week’s Morning Tee Golf Mini is Clubhouse Vows.

Play the mini crossword →

When you walk up, your ball is sitting in a sprinkler head just off the putting surface. The sprinkler head interferes with your lie, but not your stance.

What do you do?

A) Play it as it lies, because sprinkler heads are part of the course
B) Take free relief, because it’s an immovable obstruction
C) Take one penalty stroke and drop nearby
D) Move the ball onto the green because the sprinkler is near the putting surface

B) Take free relief

A sprinkler head is usually an immovable obstruction. If it interferes with your lie, stance, or area of intended swing, you normally get free relief under Rule 16.1

Key takeaway: Sprinkler under your ball or feet? Usually free relief. Sprinkler only in your putting line from off the green? Not always.